Star Trek: Strange New Worlds‘ third season has concluded, with the episode “New Life and New Civilizations.” And overall, we’d say the season was a very mixed bag. There were some standout episodes for sure, like “Terrarium,” but the worst episodes of the series as a whole were easily all in this season. We still have two more seasons left, but could it be that Strange New Worlds has peaked? We certainly hope not, as we’re rooting for this series in a big way. But we think these are the things that Alex Kurtzman, Akiva Goldsman, and the rest of the staff of Strange New Worlds have to do to find their creative footing again.
Less Gimmicky and Goofy
Star Trek as a franchise has always had one or two comedic episodes per season. This goes back to the original series, with episodes like “The Trouble with Tribbles.” But this ten-episode season had four out of ten be goofy, gimmicky episodes this year. One of them, “Four and a Half Vulcans,” was especially cringey. And the holodeck “murder mystery” episode “A Space Adventure Hour” also had us rolling our eyes. Comedy episodes are great to break up the often heady sci-fi of Star Trek, but it shouldn’t be the subject matter for half the season. Especially when they are mostly not so great. We know a puppet episode is coming next year, and we admit that looks fun. But let’s not overdo it, please.
Tone Down the Soap Opera
Every Star Trek series has had an element of soap opera. The Next Generation had seven seasons of “will they/won’t they” with Riker and Troi, as well as Picard and Dr. Crusher. Deep Space Nine had Dax and Worf, Voyager had B’Elanna and Tom Paris, etc. But it was always the B-story to something larger and more interesting that was going on. This season, the show decided to focus heavily on the dating life of Spock (Ethan Peck), where the emotionless Vulcan can’t seem to pick which female crewmember he’s going to hook up with next. It feels like the writers are leaning into that aspect because they’re struggling to come up with decent A-plots. The soap opera aspect should be the seasoning, not the meal.
Less Captain Kirk, Please
When Paul Wesley first appeared on Strange New Worlds as James Kirk, we were kind of unsure of him. He was filling pretty big shoes, of both William Shatner and Chris Pine. But he quickly grew on us as he relaxed into the role. But regardless, James T. Kirk appears four times during this season. We know he’ll eventually take over the center seat of the Enterprise, sometime at the end of season five. But until then, please remember that Captain Christopher Pike (Anson Mount) is currently in command of the Enterprise. We need this show to stop so obviously wanting to skip ahead to a Star Trek: Year One series about a young Kirk and Spock, and be what it already is — the adventures of Captain Pike’s Enterprise crew.
More Science Fiction, Less Science Fantasy
Star Trek sometimes leans more into science-fantasy than actual science fiction. It’s not new. The Q Continuum are basically gods who have “magic” powers, as just one of many examples. But this season, we had lots of characters possessed by godlike beings, zombies, and other tropes that barely qualify as sci-fi. Season one had some great pure sci-fi episodes, with interesting ideas that tickled our brains. The original series had real science fiction writers on staff, and TNG had science advisors to make sure the sci-fi was as much science as fiction. Clearly, Strange New Worlds does not. We’d really like more of that in season four, and fewer possessions by ancient space gods.
We love Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and want it to succeed as it goes into its final two seasons. This show’s cast is fantastic and deserves the best material to work with. The original Star Trek had a stellar first and second season, before going off a cliff in season three. The original show never had a fourth season to redeem itself, instead having to wait a decade for the films. Strange New Worlds will have further seasons to course correct, and we really hope they do.
All three seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are currently streaming on Paramount+.
The post How STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Can Change Course in Season 4 appeared first on Nerdist.
This articles is written by : Fady Askharoun Samy Askharoun
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